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He rode for several trainers like Josh Gifford and a young Nicky Henderson. But for eight years he was the retained rider at Forster’s Letcombe Bassett stables.

Having won the National twice prior to 1985, Forster was one of the leading trainers and provided Davies with a steady stream of winners.

The now 58-year-old Cardigan-born Davies’s ambition was to be champion jockey. The nearest he got was when he was third in 1984. Not having a title is his biggest regret, but that National win is special.

He said: “Each year it becomes more special and has pride of place in my heart. But at the time I was riding my goal was always to be champion jockey.

“I was in the top five jockeys for most of my career. I was quite lucky to be successful. I had quite a short career – I only rode for about 16 years. The lads now ride for 21, 22, 23 years. I didn’t start until I was 20-21 and I was retired at 37. The closest I got to the title was third.

Last Suspect, ridden by Jockey Hywel Davies wins the 1985 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse. 30th March 1985.

“My boss – Captain Forster – won three Grand Nationals so he was a very good trainer, a top-flight trainer. But he was quite a pessimist really. The horses we had he downgraded them. He would rather run them at a grade two track rather than a grade one track. If there was a chance of running a horse at Towcester or running at Newbury on a Friday, he would go to Towcester.

“Back in 83-84 I was also riding a lot for Nicky Henderson. He was an up-and-coming trainer at the time. He wasn’t the force he is now. But he was certainly a trainer who was going to hit the big time. Nicky offered me the job in 83 and at the time I felt how could you walk away from a big trainer like Tim Forster. He trained for the richest owners in the country at the time. So I stuck with him.”

He added: “The Grand National wasn’t necessarily high up on my list.

“Yes, I wanted to win it. Yes I wanted to ride in it every year that it came around. But I don’t think I rode the 10-1, 12-1, 14-1 shots – what I would call the livewires – so I didn’t necessarily have big chances.”

Not riding one of the more fancied runners didn’t matter in 1985. Last Suspect went off a relatively unbacked 50-1, due to his quirky tendency to down tools on occasion.

Last Suspect, though, had been a classy horse in Ireland before he was moved to Forster’s stables by owner Anne, the Duchess Of Westminster, and Davies had faith in his ability. But he had to convince his owner to let him line up for his shot at National glory.

He recalled: “The Duchess had horses with Jim Dreaper in Ireland and Last Suspect was one of them. He won the Leopardstown Chase – which is their Gold Cup – so he was a top-classs horse. But he came over to us because there were no races available to him in Ireland because he was handicapped out of it.

“He had had too many tough races carrying 13st in most of them. They decided that they would bring the horse over to this country because there would be more opportunities.

“But he was badly handicapped and we were going to struggle to win races with him. We weren’t cheating, but we ran him to his ablility and made sure that we didn’t knock him around because he was carrying so much weight. Gradually he would come down the handicap. Every time he did – handicapped to a winning mark – then I would win on him.

“I won every year on him for three years before the National – beating decent staying chasers.

“He had had such a tough career in Ireland that it had soured him a bit. There was no wonder he turned monkey. But we sweetened him up. I won on him at Chepstow, Warwick, Sandown, Newbury – staying tracks.

Last Suspect, ridden by Jockey Hywel Davies wins the 1985 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse. 30th March 1985.

“But by time the National came around, the captain was thinking of retiring him. But I thought the National would be the type of race that might get his blood up.

“He was running in and out and the handicapper was seeing this and dropping him all the time. He got in the National with a handicap mark of 10st2lb – so he was thrown in. With his ability it was like having nothing on his back – like riding bareback.

“The captain ran him in a National prep (at Warwick) and he pulled himself up, which was just before the last declarations. And the Duchess and the captain decided between them that he probably wouldn’t run.

“And when I found out about the decision not to run I ran in to see the captain and said ‘listen you’ve got to run him because if you don’t there is nothing else for him. You might as well retire the old sod’. And he said ‘if you want to sort that out you’ll have to speak to the Duchess because we have decided there is no point in running him’. So I ran and got the secretary to ring her up and spoke to her and she said ‘it’s your neck so if you want to break it, carry on’. So I said ‘does that mean we can run him?’ And she said yes. So we ran.”

Davies, himself, was also lucky to get the chance of National glory.

Just over 12 months before Last Suspect’s win, he was involved in a bad fall. He came down at the last fence on the David Barons-trained Solid Rock and he was knocked unconscious. His heart actually stopped beating on the way to hospital and after several attempts to resuscitate him, the Welsh rider was eventually revived.

Almost matter-of-factly, he recalled: “I broke my collarbone six times, my pelvis, my arm and ribs but never my legs. Every jockey falls. If a jockey thinks he is not going to fall he’s kidding himself. You fall every seven rides. But you can’t really think about it.

“I only had one really bad injury. I had a bad fall at Doncaster on a horse called Solid Rock which knocked me out. I got a deep concussion. On the way to the hospital I died for a bit. They had to revive me seven times.”

But the incident meant that when he lined up at Aintree on Last Suspect, he knew he had to take his chance of glory – despite connections’ reservations. He said: “Before the race the only orders I got from the captain was ‘keep remounting’ as he handed me the saddle. It was a typical statement because he was quite a pessimist. So I was thinking they haven’t got much confidence for this.”

But Davies did have confidence and he divised a plan to get the best out of the then 11-year-old. It worked perfectly as they collared Mr Snugfit and landed the Aintree marathon by a length and a half.

He said: “As soon as I got on him, he was sweating down the neck and you could tell he was up for it.

“But I just decided I would take him around the outside on the first circuit so he wouldn’t get knocked around. So he would have a clear passage – nothing to upset him. And it worked a treat. He really enjoyed it, it got his blood up.

“It was only from Valentine’s second time he realised he was in a proper race. He swished his tail and I could feel underneath me him not really wanting to go. But I managed to keep him going until about the second last and tried to push and push – give a couple of slaps to encourage him to go forward.

“After the last and Mr Snugfit was only four or five lengths in front of me. So I really went for it on the run-in and when I got to the Elbow the horse just dropped his head and flew. So I said go. He went flying by him, but as soon as he got past the winning post he pulled up so quickly that I thought I was going to all off him.”

Grand National-winning jockey Hywel Davies at Aintree ahead of riding in the John Smith's Bob Champion Grand National Legends Charity Race in 2013

Davies added: “He was a very clever horse. He was a wise horse. We ran him again the following year and I mistakenly tried to do the same thing and ride him the same way and he didn’t want it. He said no way pal.”

The first time, though, proved Davies right.

The National was the right race. He said: “I don’t think any other race would have done it for him. Sure enough he put his best foot forward that one day.

“It’s that type of race. Look at Red Rum. Any other race he couldn’t win but when he ran in the National it got his blood up and he performed.

“Look at Corbiere – he won one or two other races – but when he won the National he hadn’t won many around it. Ben De Haan won on Corbiere and when I won Scu (Peter Scudamore) rode him and he ran a cracker to finish third. I won on Maori Venture and then he went on to win the National. He didn’t win too many other races.”

Davies was back in the saddle at Aintree when he rode in the charity races – the last in 2013 He said: “I went back for the charity races for three years. But I decided to pack in before I started making a fool of myself. We raised over £8,000 every year thanks to my partner Vicky. She was raising more than the rest of the team put together. But to be back with the likes of Ben de Haan and Carl Llewellyn was great with the camaraderie in the weighing room and to spin around the Mildmay course was great. I really enjoyed it.”